California Farmers Claim EPA Water Rules Extend To Dirt Fields

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY (CBS13) — Farmers say federal regulators are going too far and are taking away their water and chipping away at their property rights under a new rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency says any bodies of water near a river, or standing water that can affect waterways will fall under federal regulation.

Since the 1980s, the EPA has regulated any water you can navigate through, including rivers and large lakes. But the new Clean Water Act Rule will add smaller bodies of water to the government's oversight.

Bruce Blodgett with the San Joaquin Farm Bureau says the new rule would include any standing body of water, and dry land that can potentially hold water.

"This field is a great example," he said. "This dirt field would now be 'waters of the U.S.' under this proposed rule."

The bureau says the new rule allows the government to require farmers to get permits to farm from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"We have a lot of fields that are fallow, sitting idle this year, because of the drought," he said. "That will enable the Corps to come after those lands when they try to bring them back into production next year saying, 'No, those are now waters of the U.S.'"

Under the new Clean Water Act rule, the bureau claims any private property with a pond and any farm with an irrigation district is now under federal regulation.

But the EPA says, that's not true. It says the new rule applies to tributaries and water near rivers that could seep into waterways and affect the environment. The agency says it's not going after ponds and won't interfere with farm irrigation. It says ditches that are not constructed in streams and that flow only when it rains are not covered.

A federal court has granted 13 states a stay on the orders while it examines a lawsuit. California is not part of the lawsuits, but farmers are watching.